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Duke  University  Libraries 

Report  of  the  C 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #731 

DTTDETaEEY 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  February    13,  1864.— Laid 

ou  the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE 


ON 


III  IBTKRIUSTKR  IMIUMHIINSIRV IIKIMHTMKXTS. 


The  Committee  on  Quartermaster  and  Commissary  Departments,  to 
whom  was  referred  the  following  resolution,  adopted  by  thr*  House  of 
Representatives  on  the  1  Ith  Deeembcr  last,  viz  : 

"Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on  Quartermaster  and  Commie 
Departments  inquire  into  the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  allegation  that 
the  Yankee  prisoners  in  our  hands  have  not  been   ad  '  supplied 

with  food,  and  report  to  this  House  as  soon  as  practicable,  to  the  end 
that  the  character  of  our   Government  may   be   effectually  vindicated 
in  the  premises,  and  censure,  if  any   be  due.   be    visited   upon   those 
who  deserve  it;   and  also,  why  our  own  soldiers  have  not  been   I 
provided  with  food. 

"  Resolved  further,    That  the  committee   also   inquire  and  report 
whether  the  same  rations  have  been  furnished  prisoners  captured 
the  enemy,  that  have  been  furnished  our  own  Boldi 
■  leave  respectfully  to  report  : 

By  the  regulations  of  tho  War  Department,  it  is  made  the  duty  of 
the  Quartermaster  General  to  subsist  prisoners  of  war.  The  prisoners 
were  subsisted  from  purchases  of  provisions  made  by  Captain  J, 
Warner.  A.  A.  Q.  M.,  on  the  staff  of  Brigadier  General  Winder, 
commandant  of  the  Department  of  Henrico,  and  assigned  to  that 
special  duty.  The  regulation  requiring  the  Quartermaster's  Depart- 
ment to -subsist  prisoners  of  war  is  still  in  force  ;  but  by  an  arrai 
ment  made  between  the  Quartermaster  General  and  the  Commi 
General,  with  the  approval  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  it  v,  j  1  and 
understood  that  the  purchases  by  the  Quartermaster's  Department  foti 
the  subsistence  of  prisoners  of  war  should  thereafter  be  made  from 
the  Subsistence  Department.  This  arrangement  wa  :  entered  into  in 
the  month  of  August,  1S63.  It  appears  from  the  evidence  before 
your  committee,  that  the  inducement   to  this  arrangement,   that   the 


purchases  made  by  Captain  Warner  for  the  subsistence  of  the  prisoners 
of  war,  prior  to  the  date  above  mentioned,  were  not  confined  to  sche- 
dule prices  under  his  instructions  'from  the  Quartermaster  General, 
whilst  in  no  instance  were  the  purchases  made  on  account  of  the  Sub- 
sistence Department,  under  orders  from  the  Commissary  General, 
allowed  to  exceed  the  prices  enumerated  in  the  schedule.  It  will  thus 
be  perceived,  that  to  the  extent  of  purchases  of  subsistence  necessary 
for  the  prisoners,  the  Quartermaster  and  Subsistence  Departments 
were  brought  into  competition  in  the  market  with  every  advantage  of 
procuring  subsistence,  in  favor  of  the  Quartermaster's  Department; 
thus  furnishing  better  subsistence  to  the  prisoners  of  war  than  to  our 
own  soldiers  in  the  field.  In  pursuance  of  the  arrangement  already 
adverted  to,  uniform  prices,  for  subsistence  furnished  alike  to  prisoners 
of  war  and  our  soldiers  in  the  held,  were  established,  and  the  advan- 
tage of  better  and  fuller  rations  for  prisoners  than  were  furnished  our 
soldiers  in  the  field,  was  obviated.  Entire  harmony  between  Captain 
Warner,  as  commissary  of  prisons,  and  the  Subsistence  Department 
was  not,  however,  established,  inasmuch  as  the  Commissary  General 
demanded  that  requisitions  for  the  subsistence  of  the  prisoners  should 
be  made  by  him,  in  accordance  with  form  No.  2,  the  vouchers  adopted 
by  the  Subsistence  Department.  With  this  requirement,  Captain 
Warner  made  objection^.  An  order,  however,  from  the  Quartermas- 
ter General,  in  the  month  of  September  last,  required  him  to  conform 
to  the  regulations  of  the  Subsistence  Department  in  his  requisitions 
for  rations. 

For  a  more  perfect  understanding  of  the  subject,  it  is,  perhaps, 
necessary  to  state  that  all  requisitions  for  subsistence  drawn  from  the 
Subsistence  Department,  were  directed  by  the  Commissary  General  to 
Captain  Forbes,  the  issuing  commissary.  In  carrying  out  the  orders 
of  the  Quartermaster's  Department,  for  subsistence  to  be  furnished 
prisoners,  it  was  understood  between  Captain  Warner  and  Captain 
Forbes,  that  the  ritions  of  meat  should  be  of  fresh  beef,  when  Captain 
Forbes  could  supply  it ;  and  when  beef  was  not  to  be  had,  the  requi- 
sitions for  meat  rations  should  be  filled  by  supplies  of  bacon,  bulk 
pork,  or  salt  beef.  The  butcher  for  the  Subsistence  Department  in 
Richmond,  was  a  certain  George  R.  Wilson,  upon  whom  orders  were 
given  by  Captain  Forbes  to  supply  rations  of  beef,  under  the  requi- 
sitions made  by  Captain  Warner. 

It  appears  from  the  statement  of  Wilson  herewith  submitted,  that 
orders  were  drawn  upon  him  for  fresh  beef  in  favor  of  Captain  War- 
ner, on  the  1st,  6th,  8th,  9th,  13th,  20th,  21st,  22d,  and  23d  days  of 
November,  which  were  not  filled,  because  the  supply  of  beef  on  hand 
was  not  more  than  sufficient  to  meet  the  requisitions  for  the  hospitals  ; 
and  by  an  order  from  the  Commissary  General,  he  was"  directed,  in 
the  event  of  the  scarcity  of  beef,  first  to  fill  the  requisitions  for  the 
hot-pitals*,  containing  the  sick  and  wounded,  to  the  exclusion  of  pris- 
oners of  war  and  our  own  soldiers  on  duty  at  this  post. 

It  further  appears  that  when  the  prisoners  of  war  in  the  city  of 
Richmond  were  either  upon  short  rations  of  meat,  or  deprived  of  the 
meat  ration  altogether^  our  own  soldiers  shared  the  same  privation  ; 


Mid  it  farther  appears  from  the  evidence,  that  when  the  meat  rations 

were  short,  or  altogether  withdrawn,  double  rations  of  bread  and  vege- 
table were  furnished  to  the  prisoners.  Your  committee,  therefore, 
feel  authorized  to  state  that  the  complaint  that  the  prisoners  suffered 
from  being  deprived  ■  of  a  sufficiency  of  food,  is  entirely  without 
foundation. 

Your  committee  feel  fully  warranted  in  making Jthe  statement  that 
if  the  meat  ration  for  prisoners  of  war  was  at'  any  time  sho.t,  or 
wholly  unsupplied,  the  fact  is  attributable  rather  to  the  relentless  and 
unchristian  mode  of  warfare  adopted  by  our  enemies  in  the  wholesale 
pillage  of  private  property,  and  the  reckless  and  indiscriminate 
lotion  of  all  supplies  wherever  found  by  them  in  the  hands  of 
loyal  citi/-  >rate  States,  than    to  any  Culpable  neg- 

lect upon  the  part  I  with  the  duty  of  subsisting  them. 

It  does  not  appear  from  the  evidence,  that,  when  Wilson  was  un 
to  meel  the  orders  of  Forbes  to  fill  the  requisitions  made  upon  him  by 
Captain  '•     n         >r  fresh  Captain  Warner,  orany  one  else, 

in  more  than    two    instances,    applied    to   Captain    I  for    meat 

rations  of  bacon,  bulk  pork,  or  salt  beef,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the 
agreement  already  adverted  to.  In  justice  to  Captain  Warner,  it 
ahould  be  stated  that  he  informed  Captain  Turner,  the  commandant  of 
the  prison?,  that  he  (Captain  Warner)  could  not  procure  rations  of 
beef  at  the  times  Wilson  Btates  he  was  unable  to  meet  the  orders  of 
Captain  Forbes — that  Captain  Turner  reported  the  facts  to  General 
Winder,  and  Geneva!  Winder  appears  to  have  referred  them  to  the 
Quartermaster  General. 

It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  the  Commissary  General  hadany 
inform  ition  from  any  quarter,  that  the  prisoners  of  war  were  not  pro- 
vided with  meat  rations  on  the  days  designated. 

These  are  the  material  facts  collated  from  a  mass  of  testimony  so  far 
as  applicable  to  the  condition  of  prisoners  of  war  held  in  custody  in  the 
city  of  Richmond.  Your  committee  are  not  prepared  to  censure 
either  of  the  officers  connected  with  the  care,  custody,  and  subsist- 
ence of  prisoners  of  war  under  the  obligations  imposed  by  the  regula. 
tions  upon  the  Quartermaster's  Department;  nor  is  your  committee 
able  to  perceive  in  what  respect  the  Commissary  General  has  failed  in 
the  performance  of  any  duty  devolved  upon  him  under  the  agreement 
entered  into  between  the  Quartermaster  General  and  Commissary 
ral. 

All  of  which  is  respectfull v  submitted. 

WALTER  PRESTON".  Chairman. 


PeRrmlife* 
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